The New BJP Leader Will Be From Outside Delhi
November 7, 2009
At a time when the BJP is going through its worst existential crisis, the man with the walrus moustache and a mischievous glint in his eyes has become the most sought-after oracle in town. Mohanrao Bhagwat, the 59-year-old boss of the RSS, plays the role to perfection, and every word of his continues to be worthy of Page 1 nowadays. Watch excerpts of interview
The media savvy Bhagwat’s ascension as the head of the House of Saffron has marked a generational as well as cultural shift in the organisation. He is the moderniser, the 21st century face of the RSS. As the BJP seems to have abandoned its core ideology for the sake of coalition politics, Bhagwat has brought Hindutva back to the national agenda. As the BJP suffers from the absence of a leader who can take the party out of the wreckage of defeat, the sixth sarsanghchalak has become the supreme guide and the wise counsellor.
As the party retreats from the national mindspace, he styles himself as the last apostle of the nationalist cause. As its ambitious but discredited leaders struggle for the spoils of a lost war, he tells them: behave or be damned. Still, the Brahmin bachelor from Chandrapur in Maharashtra finds time to read the new Dan Brown.
Like the symbologist hero in The Lost Symbol, Bhagwat too has to think smart and act fast to save the Parivar he heads. In a candid conversation with Editor Prabhu Chawla for the Seedhi Baat show on Aaj Tak channel (today at 9.00 pm) at the RSS office in Jhandewalan in Delhi, Bhagwat talks about subjects ranging from the future leadership of the BJP to Vande Mataram, from Chidambaram to Modi, from Pakistan to China-and more. Excerpts.
